Although the NEX-5n is a great performer IQ wise and I can use my legacy lenses (through adapter) I've decided to sell. Why? The 5n has some surprisingly good menus and human interfaces, but I still find the overall handling to poor.

Here is an attempt to quantify my judgment of handling . As you can see the 5n gets a score of 30 (of max 100). Compared to a RD-1 with 90 and a M9 with 70 this is not good enough, even given the reduced size/volume gain.

------- How to judge the camera handling? -------

Easy, just give the camera a score on these points. But please note that these are only a part of the camerae performance, not IQ or other.

NEX 5n--------------------------------------Total: 30 of 100100005 (only through legacy lenses such as Leica M)5 (only through legacy lenses such as Leica M)05 (only through legacy lenses such as Leica M)5 (only through legacy lenses such as Leica M)0

Alf, everyone's criteria can differ. I don't agree with any of your ten points. All of the items you think worthy of grading really don't matter to me. A camera either works for me or it doesn't. I don't find it necessary to "grade" it. But thanks for sharing your opinion.

I agree with the criteria Alf is using. I don't buy cameras without buttons for most of the functions mentioned.

Alf, clearly having dedicated buttons is important to you. Were you just hoping/wishing that you wouldn't be bothered by the Sony's inadequacy? I had a camera years ago that compelled me to use menus for many settings. I will never make that mistake again.

Regarding the camera being off when changing settings, I don't worry much about this. I left my D700 on for a few weeks recently while using another body and came back and the battery had barely drained. My current philosophy is not to worry about turning off my camera unless I think buttons are going to be pressed inadvertently or I am going to be away from it for an extended period of time. This introduces one more camera buying criteria: must lightly sip at batteries when "on" but not metering, focusing, etc.

that's very analytical of you. Personally adapting to the idiosyncrasies of a given design team can be a royal pain, but usually can get around most flaws if it takes great pictures.

However I do not like the Sonys... great color, very grainy images. Perhaps the new sensor will be better, but it will have to be much better. The M9 is about two orders of magnitude better in terms of IQ to my eyes, so that alone is a rule-out

Personally adapting to the idiosyncrasies of a given design team can be a royal pain, but usually can get around most flaws if it takes great pictures.

Fortunately, there are many cameras capable of taking great pictures. Years ago I remember compromising on ergonomics to meet the quality threshold I was looking for. Disregarding price, there are enough models available that you shouldn't need to compromise ergonomics for image quality.

One of my camera tests is to close my eyes and attempt to operate controls correctly without changing my grip.

Alf, clearly having dedicated buttons is important to you. Were you just hoping/wishing that you wouldn't be bothered by the Sony's inadequacy? I had a camera years ago that compelled me to use menus for many settings. I will never make that mistake again...

Thanks,

I was at least giving it a try , so I guess I was hoping that I could live with these handling issues (that I knew of before purchasing). And of course this is my subjective opinions, and as such my choices.

that's very analytical of you. Personally adapting to the idiosyncrasies of a given design team can be a royal pain, but usually can get around most flaws if it takes great pictures.

However I do not like the Sonys... great color, very grainy images. Perhaps the new sensor will be better, but it will have to be much better. The M9 is about two orders of magnitude better in terms of IQ to my eyes, so that alone is a rule-out

But, to each their own.

Yes, the "grainy" look of NEX-5n IQ is a bit strange. But perhaps more a pixel-peeping issue? I was not bothered to much, at least not on the few large prints I made from NEX.

The IQ of M9 is from what I have manged to compare really in a class of its own. Personally I would rate this as a 24Mp sensor. Needs some small tweaking in LR or similar though. So comparing apples with apples (prints) I wouldn't expect the NEX-5n to be at a M9 level.